For as long as Sarah Armstrong can remember, rain at her family's southern New South Wales farm led to her dad picking up the phone.
"It rained overnight and Dad was ringing up everyone and comparing rainfall," she said.
Her dad, Mick, says it is an inherited habit.
"My old man used to always be on the telephone after a shower or two and he'd be ringing everybody up trying to find out how much they had, from one end of the state to the other," he said.
It wasn't until the phone calls happened during a recent rain event at her parents' farm in Gunbar that Ms Armstrong had an idea.
She has since created SparkDrop, which will allow farmers to record their rainfall totals through their phone and share the information with others.
Ms Armstrong, who grew up in Goolgowi and has generations of farming in her family, hopes it will allow farmers to access rainfall data that is more relevant to them.
"Everyone gets different rainfall and the one that you see on most of the weather apps is recorded at the airport," she said.
Helping the industry
Roy Hamilton, a Riverina farmer and member of the Grains Research and Development Corporation, says precise knowledge of where rain falls can help in several ways.
It can determine if sheep might be wet just before shearing or help with knowing where to place assets for best use.
"There could be a variation of 10 to 30 millimetres and that can make the difference between going and not going with machinery," Mr Hamilton said.
Griffith-based agronomist Heath McWhirter says data from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is quite localised, so there is room for more.
"It's mainly concentrated in the main country towns … there are plenty of areas that are isolated," he said.
Addressing challenges
Mr McWhirter founded his own app that allows farmers, advisors and agribusinesses to communicate with each other.
He thinks the concept of SparkDrop is "brilliant" but says engagement will be important for its success.
"I think one of the challenges will be trying to get the participation from people in the industry, being farmers, advisors and agribusiness, to put that information in after every rain event," Mr McWhirter said.
The app will also need to be self-governed, he says, but if there are enough users, anomalies will stand out.
The app is expected to be launched in mid-May.
The Bureau of Meteorology declined to be interviewed.
